Pivoted type head for toy typewriter



Dec. 13, 1960 E. l. BERGER 2,964,156

PIVOTED TYPE HEAD FOR TOY TYPEWRITER Filed May 12, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Dec. 13, 1960 E. l. BERGER PIVOTED TYPE HEAD FOR TOY TYPEWRITER Filed May 12, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Afro/B16 7 INVENTOR. EDA/0V .Z.' BEFGER Dec. 13, 1960 E. 1. BERGER PIVOTED TYPE HEAD FOR TOY TYPEWRITER 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed May 12, 1959 Dec. 13, 1960 E. 1. BERGER PIVOTED TYPE HEAD FOR TOY TYPEWRITER 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed May 12, 1959 INVENTOR. [DA WV 155F667? BY am a; 4% YM- United Sttes Edwin I. Berger, 460 Redmond Road, South Orange, NJ.

Filed May 12, 1959, Ser. No. 812,686

11 Claims. (Cl. 197-47) It is among the objects of the invention to provide a toy typewriter that simulates the appearance of a genuine portable typewriter, yet is simple in construction, using substantially solely sheet metal stock, and is not likely to become deranged, that may readily be operated and permits ready shifting of the type head for typing of upper and lower case letters with relatively simplified mechanism.

According to the invention, these objects are accomplished by the arrangement and combination of elements hereinafter described and particularly recited in the claims.

This application is a continuation-.in-part of co-pending application Serial No. 603,263, filed August 10, 1956, now U.S. Patent No. 2,905,300.

In the accompanying drawings in which is shown one of various possible embodiments of the several features of the invention.

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of a toy typewriter according to the present invention showing its general appearance with a simulated keyboard,

Fig. 2 is a view taken along line .22 of Fig. 1 of one side of the typewriter,

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 with the typewriter in position to type capital letters,

Fig. 4'is a fragmentary side elevation view of the other side of the typewriter,

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the operating parts of the typewriter,

Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of the escapement mechanism and,

Figs. 7 to 9 are top plan views of the escapement mechanism in various operating positions.

Referring now to the drawings, the toytypewriter simulates the general appearance of the modern portable typewriter, presenting .as it does, a base 11 having a simulated standard keyboard 12 mounted on'an oblique rectangular portion 13 of the base and a housing 14 to the rear of the keyboard, said housing being of shape and dimensions commonly used on standard typewriters to enclose the type bar basket, .a platen structure 15 being positioned to the rear of the housing.

The base, the keyboard and the housing are preferably .of sheet metal stampings, the housing structure having an opening 16 to accommodate the type wheel 17 of the toy typewriter.

The main operating parts of the tov tvoewriter are mounted on an elongated frame 18 desirably formed from sheet metal and which as shown in Fig. 3 is securely mounted in the base 1'1 to extend between the front and rear thereof aligned with the opening 6.

The frame 18 has parallel side walls 19. 21. connected at their upper ed es by a top Wal 22. the f ont port-inn 23 of which is inclined downward y to conform to the inclination of the inclined portion v13 of the base,

Rising from each side :of the top wall 22 and ali ned with the side walls 19 and 21 are transversely spaced arms 24, 25 which are positioned between .the end .26 of 2,964,156 Patented Dec. 13, 1969 the frame 18 and the top edge 27 of the inclined front portion 23.

Straddling the arms '24,, 25 are the obliquely extending arms 28,, 29 of a substantially U-shaped sheet metal carriage 31, the free ends of said arms 28., 29 being pivotally mounted 011 pins 32, which extend through oblique slots 33 in said upstanding arms 24, 25 and which define an axle for the carriage.

.Rotatably mounted on an axle 34 extending at right angles to the cross piece 35 of carriage '31 is the type wheel 17, having at its periphery two rows of type heads, the upper row comprising lower case letters and numbers and the lowerrow comprising upper case letters and numbers.

As is clearly shown in Fig. 1, the periphery of the type wheel :17 extends beyond the cross piece 35 of carriage 31 so that when such carriage is rotated in the manner hereinafter described, one of the letters or numerals on either the upper or lower row will strike against the ribbon 37 aligned with the platen '15 to cause a corresponding impression to be made on a sheet of paper positioned against such platen.

Pivotally mounted on the pins 32 protruding beyond the arms 28,29 of the carriage 31, are the ends of the legs 38 of a U-shaped detent member 39, said legs extending parallel to the side walls of the frame 18 to nearly the top edge 27 of inclined portion 23 and being connected by a cross .piece 41 extending transversely across the top wall 22 of the frame 18.

.Rising from the side Walls of the frame 18 between the arms '24, 25 and the top edge 27 of inclined portion 23 are transversely aligned arms 42 43 which have openings through which :extend the laterally projecting ends 44 of the legs 45 of a U-shaped detent member 46, the cross piece 47 of which extends transversely .across the top wall .22 of the frame 18 and is normally to the rear of or in the path of movement of the cross piece 41 of detent member 39.

Means are provided to rotate the detent member 46 to move its cross piece 47 out of the path of movement of the cross piece 41 of detent member 39.

To this end, one end of a lever 48 is secured to one .f the laterally projecting ends 44 of the member 46. Pivotally connected as at 51 to the other end of lever 48 is one end of 'a link 52 the other end of which is pivotally connected as at 53 to one end of a lever 54. The lever54 is pivoted between its ends on a pin 55 extending laterally outward from the side wall -19 of the frame 18, a-coil spring 57, secured at one end to the pin .55 and at its other end as at 58 to the link 52 normally urging the detent member 46 in a clockwise direction as shown in Fig. 5 so that its cross piece 47 is in the path of movement of the cross piece 41 of member 39.

Secured to the front end of the lever 54 is a key 59 which serves to shift the typing from lower case to upper case and which protrudes through an elongated slot 61 in the front of the base 11 as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3.

Means are provided to pivot the carriage 31 about its axle 32 to effect the typing action. To this end as is shown in Fig. 5, a pair of links 62 are pivotally .connected at one end as at 63 to the arms 28, 29 of the carriage 31. The links 62 extend substantially vertically and straddle the side walls 19, 21 of the frame 18. As shown in Fig. 3 a cross bar 64 extends transversely through vertical slots 65 in said side walls 'thro'ugh'open- 'ings in the :lower ends of "each of the links 62.

Pivotally connected to the cross bar 64 at each end thereof is the end of the arm 66 of the carriage actuating member 67, said arms 66 being pivotally mount'edbetweep their ends :on pin 55 extending laterally outward from side wall .19 and a corresponding pin :68 extending lateral ly dutward from side wall 21.

The outer ends of the arms 66 are connected by a cross piece 71 extending along slot 61 as shown in Fig. l. The actuating member 67 defines the key lever, depression of the cross piece of which effects the typing action.

The key lever 67 is connected with an escapement mechanism 72, which will advance the platen 15 one space with each depression of the key lever. To permit such advance, as shown in Figs. 2 and 5, the platen 15 is rotatably mounted on a carriage 73 that has side walls 74, 75 each with an outwardly extending lip 76 along its lower edge that extends beneath a corresponding inwardly bent lip 77 along the side edges of a track 78 secured to the rear end of the top wall 22 of the frame 18 and extending transversely thereof.

The side wall 75 of the carriage 73 has a row of indentations 79 therealong that define a rack which when engaged by the escapement mechanism will elfect step by step advance of the platen 15.

As shown in Figs. 6 to 9, the escapement mechanism 72 comprises a rectangular casing 81, secured to the top wall of the frame 18 adjacent the platen. Referring to Fig. 7, a bell crank lever 82 is pivoted at 83 at the junction between its legs 84, 85 to the top wall of casing 81. The end of leg 84 is pivoted as at 87 to one end 86 of an advancing arm 88, the free end 89 of which projects laterally outward from an elongated slot 91 in the rear wall 92 of the casing 81 and has ratchet teeth 93 thereon.

The lever 82 is normally urged in a clockwise direction from the position shown in Fig. 7 by a coil spring 94, connected at one end to the casing as at 95 and at its other end to the end 86 of the arm 88.

Extending transversely of the casing 81 through slots 96, 97 in the front and rear walls thereof, is a locking arm 98 having ratchet teeth 99 at the end thereof protruding from slot 97, said end being normally urged outwardly by a leaf spring 101 reacting against the rear end 102 of said arm 98. I

Means are provided to rotate the bell crank lever 82 about its pivot 83. To this end, one end of a link 103 is connected to the free end of leg 85 of lever 82 and extends transversely of the casing 81 beyond the front wall thereof. The outer end of link 103 is pivotally connected as at 104 to one end of a link 105, pivotally connected at its other end to the upper end of the leg 106 of a bell crank lever 107 extending through an elongated longitudinal slot 108 in top wall 22 of frame 18. V

The junction between legs 106, 109 of lever 107 is secured to a rod 111 rotatably mounted between the side walls of the frame 18 and extending beyond the wall 21 as shown in Fig. 4. The end of leg 109 of lever 107 is pivot: ally connected as at 112 (Fig. 6) to one end of an arm 113, the other end of which has an elongated slot 114 through which rod 64 extends. V

To rotate the bell crank lever 107, a lever 115 (Fig. 4) is afiixed at one end to the protruding end of rod 111. One end of a link 116 is pivoted as at 117 to the free end of lever 115 and at its other end as at 118 to the free end of a spacing lever 119. Lever 119 is pivoted between its ends on pin 68 and extends parallel to the side wall 21 of the frame 18, the front end of lever 119 mounting a space key 121 which protrudes through slot 61 as shown in Fig. 1.

The operation of the typewriter is as follows:

With a sheet of paper P inserted between the platen 15 and the elongated ribbon 37, the type wheel 17 is rotated so that the desired character or numeral is aligned with the ribbon.

Assuming that a lower case character on the upper row is to be typed, it is merely necessary to press on the cross piece 71 of the key lever 67 to pivot the arms 66 thereof about their pivots 55 and 68. As a result the free ends of arms 66 will move upwardly causing links 62 to be raised as shown in broken lines in Fig. 2 to react against the obliquely extending arms 28, 29 of carriage 31 to pivot the latter upwardly about its axle 32 to the position shown in broken lines in Fig. 2.

Referring to Fig. 2, as the cross piece 47 of detent 46 is in the path of movement of cross piece 41 of detent 39, the latter will be restrained from movement and the axle 32 will remain at the lower ends of the slots in arms 24, 25.

As a result the selected character on the upper row of the type wheel 17 will strike against the ribbon 37 to cause a corresponding impression to be made on the paper P.

Upward movement of the links 62 will also cause the rod 64 extending therebetween to be raised and this rod reacting against link 113 and leg 109 of hell crank lever 107 will pivot the latter in a clockwise direction as shown in the uppermost broken line representation in Fig. 2. As a result the leg 106 of lever 107 will be moved in a corresponding direction to exert tension on link 103 of the escapement mechanism through link 105.

This will cause lever 82 of the escapement mechanism to be pivoted in a counter-clockwise direction from the position shown in Fig. 7 to the position shown in Fig. 8. Such movement will cause the ratchet end 89 of arm 88 to move to the right from the position shown in Fig. 6, the ratchet teeth 93 camming over the rack 79 on the platen carriage 73, the engagement of ratchet teeth 99 on arm 98 with said rack preventing movement of said carriage.

When the key lever 67 is released, due to the tension of coil spring 94, the lever 82 will be pivoted in a clockwise direction from the position shown in Fig. 8 to the position shown in Fig. 7. As the arm 88 will be positively moved to the left (downwardly referring to Fig. 8), the teeth 93 thereon will engage the rack 79 to effect advance of the platen carriage one space.

In the event it is desired to advance the platen without typing, the space key 121 need merely be pressed. Referring to Fig. 4, this will cause rotation of hell crank lever 107 through the transmission consisting of arm 119, link 116, lever and rod 111 to effect advance of the platen carriage in the manner previously described.

Where it is desired to insert the platen carriage 73 after it has been removed from the track 78, it is necessary to move the ratchet teeth 93, 99 so that they are clear of the rack 79.

This is accomplished by full depression of key 121. As a result, the bell crank lever 82, as shown in Fig. 9. will be rotated in a counter-clockwise direction to such an extent that a cam 125 at the end of leg 85 will abut against a projection 126 on arm 88 and the latter will abut against a finger 127 on arm 98 to move the projecting ends of arms 88 and 98 inwardly so that the ratchet teeth 93 and 99 thereof are clear of the rack 79. i

In the event it is desired to type an upper case char: acter or numeral on the lower row of the type wheel 17, it is merely necessary for the shift key 59 to be pressed to the position shown in Fig. 3. As a result, through the transmission consisting of arm 54, link 52 and lever 48, the detent member 46 will be pivoted in a counter-clockwise direction to move its cross piece 47 out of the path of movement of the cross piece of detent 39.

With the shift key 59 maintained in its lowermost posi tion, the key lever 67 is pressed to cause pivoting of the carriage 31 in the manner previously described. How ever, as the carriage 31 starts to pivot in a counter-clock wise direction under the upward urging of links 62, the pins or axle 32 of the carriage will now be free to move to the upper end of slots 33 in arms 24, 25, the release of cross piece 41 of detent 39 permitting such movement.

Inasmuch as the pivotal axis 32 of the carriage 31 has been shifted forwardly to the position shown in broken' lines in Fig. 3, it will cause the selected character on the' lower row of the type Wheel to strike the ribbon to make the desired impression.

To restore the carriage 31 to normal position, it is merely necessary to release the shift key 59 and key lever 67.

With the relatively simple mechanism above described 55 a versatile toy typewriter is provided that will afford imprinting of both --upper and lowercase letters, similar IO'thOSE on 'a standard portable typewriter. By reason of the simplicity of the linkages above described, the toy typewriter is capable of long use 'without:=likelihood of derangement.

:As many changes could be made :in the above construction, and many apparently widely vdilferent embodiments of this invention could be :made without departing from the scope of the claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the abovede'scrip'tion or shown in the accompanying drawings :shall 'be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, what "I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a typewriting mechanism, the combination of a base, a platen at the rear thereof, a carriage pivoted on said base on an axis extending parallel to the platen, a type wheel rotatably mounted on said carriage on an axis extending at right angles to the pivotal axis of said carriage, said type wheel having at least two rows of characters thereon positioned one above the other on the periphery of said wheel, means supporting the pivotal axis of said carriage to permit movement of said axis between two positions to change the arcuate path of movement of the carriage, means to rotate said carriage about its axis for movement of the type wheel toward and away from the platen and to urge said pivotal axis from one of said positions to the other, means to retain said pivotal axis of the carriage in said one of said positions, and means to release said retaining means, whereby when the carriage is rotated with its pivotal axis retained in said one of said positions, characters on one of said rows of the type wheel will strike the platen and when said carriage is rotated with said retaining means released, the pivotal axis of the carriage will be moved to the other of said two positions and the characters on the other of said rows of the type wheel will strike the platen.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1 in which the means supporting the axis of said carriage comprises a pair of upstanding members each having an inclined slot, the upper and lower ends of which define said two positions.

3. The combination set forth in claim 1 in which the means supporting the axis of said carriage comprises a pair of upstanding members each having an inclined slot, the upper and lower ends of which define said two positions, the pivotal axis of said carriage extending through said slots, and the means to retain the pivotal axis of the carriage in said one of said positions retains said axis at the lower ends of said slots, said means comprising a movable member aflixed to said carriage adjacent the pivotal axis thereof, said member having an abutment, and a second movable member in the path of movement of said abutment.

4. The combination set forth in claim 3 in which the means to release said retaining means comprises a pivotally mounted lever operatively connected to said second movable member to effect movement of the latter out of the path of said abutment upon pivoting of said lever.

5. The combination set forth in claim 1 in which said carriage has a pair of legs, the pivotal axis for said carriage extends through the ends of said legs, the means supporting the axis of said carriage comprises a pair of upstanding members each having an inclined slot, the upper and lower ends of which define said two positions, the pivotal axis extending through said slots, and the means to retain the pivotal axis of the carriage in said one of said positions retains said axis at the lower ends of said slots, said means comprising a U-shaped member having a pair of legs pivoted at their ends to said pivotal axis adjacent each of said upstanding members,

'6 said "u 'shap'ed member having a cross piece connecting said legs, and a movable member in the path :of :movement of said cross piece.

'6. The combination set .forth in claim 5, in which a ;pair of transversely aligned upstanding members are provided, and the movable member is substantially U- shaped, having a pair of parallel legs anda cross piece, each of said legs having a lateral projection pivotally mounted on said upstanding members, one of said pro- Qj'ections extending beyond its associated upstanding member, a lever secured at one end to said projection, a link secured at one end "to the other end of said lever, an actuating "lever pivotally mounted "between its ends and having one end pivoted to *the other end of "said lever, and resilient means reacting against said lever normally to retain the cross piece of said movable member in the path of movement of the cross piece of said first U- shaped member.

7. The combination set forth in claim 1, in which the means to rotate said carriage about its axis comprises an actuating arm pivoted between its ends with respect to the base of the typewriter, said carriage having a leg, the pivotal axis for said carriage being at the free end of said leg, and a link pivotally connected at its ends to one end of said actuating arm and to the leg of said carriage above its pivotally mounted end, whereby when the other end of said actuating arm is pressed, the end to which the link is connected will move upwardly causing the link to move in corresponding direction to react against the carriage leg thereby pivoting the carriage toward the platen and urging said pivotal axis from one of said positions to the other.

8. The combination set forth in claim 7 in which a track is provided extending at right angles to the path of movement of said carriage, a platen carriage is slidably mounted on said track, said platen being rotatably mounted on said carriage, an escapement mechanism is provided having a projecting member engaging said platen carriage, and means controlled by pressing and release of said actuating arm is provided to reciprocate said projecting member to effect advance of said platen carriage.

9. The combination set forth in claim 7 in which a track is provided extending at right angles to the path of movement of said carriage, a platen carriage is slidably mounted on said track, said platen being rotatably mounted on said carriage, and an escapement mechanism is provided having a projecting member engaging said platen carriage, a vertically movable horizontal rod operatively connected to said actuating arm to be reciprocated thereby, and a pivotally mounted bell crank lever having a pair of legs, one of said legs being operatively connected to said rod for rotation of said bell crank upon movement of said rod, said escapement mechanism having a control link operatively connected to the other leg of said bell crank lever.

10. The combination set forth in claim 7 in which a track is provided extending at right angles to the path of movement of said carriage, a platen carriage is slidably mounted on said track, said platen being rotatably mounted on said carriage, said carriage having a rack extending the length thereof, and an escapement mechanism is provided having a projecting member engaging said platen carriage, a vertically movable horizontal rod operatively connected to said actuating arm to be reciprocated thereby, a rotatably mounted horizontal rod, a bell crank lever secured to said rod, said lever having a pair of legs, a link having an elongated slot at one end, through which said vertically movable horizontal rod extends, the other end of said link being pivotally connected to the end of one of the legs of said bell crank lever, said escapement mechanism having a control link operatively connected to the end of the other leg of said bell crank lever, and means to rotate said rotatably mounted rod to efiect actuation of said escapement mechanism for advanceof said platen carriage independently of the actuation of said type wheel carriage.

11. The combination set forth in claim 10 in which said escapement mechanism comprises a pivotally mounted bell crank lever having a pair of legs, said control link being connected to the end of one of said legs, an arm pivotally connected at one end to the end of the other leg of said bell crank lever, the other end of said arm having said projecting member, the latter having ratchet teeth thereon, resilient means reacting against said arm to urge said projecting member outwardly for positive engagement of its ratchet teeth with said rack, a slidably mounted arm having ratchet teeth at one end,

8. means resiliently reacting against said arm to urge the ratchet teeth thereon against said rack, a cam member on the end of the leg of the bell crank lever to which said control link is connected, a projection on said arm and a finger on said slidable arm, said cam member upon rotation of said bell crank lever being adapted to abut against said projection and said projection being adapted to abut against said finger to move both said projecting member and said slidable arm away from said rack.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,096,085 Boisselier Oct. 19, 1937 

